Cargo pallets



Oct. 25, 1955 M. MARKUSSEN 2,721,756

CARGO PALLETS Filed Jan. 2, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

Oct. 25, 1955 MARKUSSEN 2,721,756

CARGO PALLETS Filed Jan. 2, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. MARKUS MARKUSSEN.

United States Patent 2,721,756 CARGO PALLETS Markus Markussen, Bergen, Norway Application January 2, 1953, Serial No. 329,348

6 Claims. (Cl. 294-67) The present invention concerns improvements in or relating to'cargo pallets, that is to say platforms having integral feet below their floor and provided with means for engaging hooks, slings, carrying rods or bars by which the pallets may be lifted.

The object of the present invention is to provide improved engaging means for co-operation with carrying rods or bars so that such rods or bars may readily be guided into and be maintained in an attached or hooked condition with the pallet, whilst being such that said rods or bars are unlikely inadvertently to become detached from the pallet. a f

According to the present invention, a pallet is provided with upper and lower hook members which face towards each other and are so spaced from each other that an open slot is formed between them and through which a carrying rod or bar may be entered and guided, whereby, during a lifting of the pallet by such rod or bar, the latter is held in position by the down-turned upper hook member, whilst, when the pallet is supported independently of said rod or bar, the latter will be received and retained in the lower upturned hook member.

According to a further feature of the present invention, the said upper hook member may be wider than the lower hook member, whilst the leading or entering edge of the lower hook member may be inclined towards the upper hook member, so that the entrance of a carrying rod or bar into the space between the said hook members may be facilitated.

One preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the annexed drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 shows a cargo pallet, constructed in accordance with this invention, seen from one side and with its middle part broken away; and

Figure 2 shows, on a larger scale, one of the members for engaging a carrying rod.

Figure 3 shows a perspective view of the cargo pallet.

In the annexed drawings, the reference numeral 1 indicates in general a frame made, for example, of a metal tube or tubes welded together to form a web-frame structure comprising a platform for supporting cargo, such frame having downwardly extending hollow feet 2 formed integrally therewith. Each of the feet 2 is preferably open at its upper end and of frusto-conical shape so that a number of pallets may be stacked together, the feet of an upper pallet being received or accommodated in the interior of the corresponding feet of a lower pallet.

An upper, downwardly facing, hook member 3 is formed in the outer surface of each foot 2, whilst a lower, upwardly facing, hook member 4 is formed below the member 3. The hook members 3 and 4 form between them a dovetail or lyrate seat opening into a slot 5. The expression outer surface means that surface of the foot 2 which faces outwardly of the pallet.

As will be seen from the drawing, the upper hook memher 3 is wider, in a direction along the plane of the pallet, than the lower hook member 4; that is to say, the extreme tip 6 of the upper member 3 is nearer the edge of the 2,721,756 Patented Oct. 25,1955

pallet towards which the slot 5 faces than the corresponding extreme tip 7 of. the lower member 4, whilst the leading or entering edge 8 of the member 4 is inclined upwardly away from the edge of the pallet and from a surface 9 upon which the pallet may rest. As will be noted, the two hook members 3 and 4 constitute true hooks, as the sturdy bar-like parts of said members approaching the tips 6 and 7 provide true hook-bills.

The pallet may be lifted by means of carrying rods, such as 10 which are attached, for example, to slings 11, a sling being disposed at each end of each rod. When the rods 10 and the slings 11 are in the position as shown in dotted lines in Figure 2 of the drawings, and the slings are drawn upwardly, the rods will be guided along the leading edge 8 of the lower hook member 4 and into the slot 5 to be received in the upper hook member 3 as shown with full drawn lines in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawing.

When the pallet is lowered to rest on a surface as indicated by 9 and the slings 11 are no longer subject to tension, the weight of the rods 10 will cause the latter to fall into and be received within the lower hook member 4 as shown in dot-and-chain lines in Figure 2, until the pallet is again raised as hereinbefore described, when the rods are again received and held in the upper hook member 3.

Preferably the horizontal distance A between the inner edge of the upper tip 6 and the vertical extension in a direction upwards from the tip 7, should approximate to, or be a little less than the radius of the rod 10. Thus the rod 10 will seek its seat in the lower hook formed member 4 when the pallet is placed upon a surface 9 and the hoisting pull on the slings 11 released.

Furthermore, while it is of the essence of the invention that there be two true hook members, one an upper one, as the member 3, and the other a lower one, as the mem her 4, and that in combination therewith the spacing therebetween for sidewise entry and exit of the rod 10 be greater than the diameter of said rod, the distance be tween the extreme ends of the tips 6 and 7 should only be slightly more than the diameter of the rod 10 to prevent the latter disengaging itself from the hook members 3 and 4. If desired, the tips 6 and 7 may be arranged vertically one above the other. There is extreme importance, however, in having said spacing between said tips of the hook members 3 and 4 slightly greater than the diameter of the rod 10, because only then can the rod 10 be advanced sidewisely for instantaneous engagement with the hook members, and, indeed, only then, also, be capable of being moved sidewisely for instantaneous detachment from the hook members.

The invention may also be applied to pallets formed with two platforms separated by spacers; in this case, the hook members 3 and 4 will be formed in such spacers which are, in such pallets, equivalent to the feet 2 hereinbefore described.

It is of course no necessity that the hook members are made integral with the feet or the spacers of such pallets as described in the foregoing. Such hook members may, if desired, be made integral with the pallet apart from such feet or spacers.

What I claim is:

1. A pallet having upper and lower hook members which face towards each other and are so spaced from each other that an open slot is formed between them and through which a carrying rod or bar may be entered and guided, whereby, during lifting of the pallet by such rod or bar, the latter is held in position by the downturned upper hook member, whilst when the pallet is sup ported independently of said rod or bar, the latter will be received and retained in the lower upturned hook member.

2. A pallet according to claim 1, wherein the said upper hook member is wider than the said lower hook member.

3. A pallet according to claim 1, wherein the leading edge of the lower hook member is inclined to guide an upwardly drawn carrying rod or bar into the upper hook member.

4. A pallet having upper and lower hook members both of which provide true hooks in that they respectively include a downwardly directed true hook bill and an upwardly directed true hook bill, said hook members being so spaced from each other that an open slot is formed between them through which a carrying rod or bar may be passed by sidewise advance thereof through said slot, the hooking portions of said two hook members being so shaped and spaced one above the other that during lifting of the pallet by such rod or bar the latter is held in position by the downturned upper hook member at the higher one of two locations between the two hook members, and when the pallet is thereafter supported independently of said rod or bar the latter will, by dropping because of its weight to the lower one of said two locations, be by its weight retained in the lower upturned hook member, the first referred to spacing between said hook members being greater than the diameter of said rod or bar with the latter having a diameter large enough to constitute the rod or bar a rigid lifting member of suitable strength.

5. A pallet according to claim 4, wherein the leading edge of the lower hook member is so upwardly extended toward the tip of said hook member and so inclined relative to said tip as to act on said rod or bar, when during sidewise advancement thereof it is upwardly drawn across said edge to guide said rod or bar into the upper hook member.

6. A pallet having upper and lower hook members which face towards each other and are so spaced from each other that an open slot is formed between them and through which a carrying rod or bar may be entered and guided, whereby during lifting of the pallet by such rod or bar, the latter is held in position by the downturned upper hook member, said upper hook member being wider than said lower hook member whereby when the pallet is thereafter supported independently of said rod or bar the latter will be received and retained in the lower upturned hook member, said lower hook member having an upwardly projected tip located below a point intermediate the limits of width of said upper hook member and said lower hook member having a leading edge so upwardly extended toward said tip and so inclined relative to said point as to guide an upwardly drawn carrying rod or bar into said upper hook member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,975,194 Courtney Oct. 2, 1934 2,465,134 Toffolon Mar. 22, 1949 2,472,939 Connolly June 14, 1949 

